I'm going to be honest. For a while now, I haven't been quite sure where I stood on the Wonderful 101 and Keza's review. As a Nintendo fan, of course I was hoping that something as unique, new, and interesting as The Wonderful 101 would turn out to be a highlight of the Wii U's library. So my first instinct upon seeing the review was to try minimizing the flaws that she found in the game. Like many of the other commentators, I was inclined to blame Keza for not knowing the controls, and for not understanding the point of a high difficulty.

UNITE UP

Then I played the game (or at least the demo, anyway).

I found myself having all of the same problems. I was constantly fumbling over the controls, and even when time slowed down to allow me to make a Unite Hand, I ran out of time before I could draw a proper circle. The enemy design seemed to expect me to have 4 arms to just keep them at bay, much less do serious damage to them.

Then I found this video.

I am confident that if a video like this came in the package with Wonderful 101, it would have received a much higher score from Keza. It shows off and explains so many systems that I didn't even know the game had! Hit-stun, On-Hit Canceling, launchers, analogue stick controls, climb attacks, Multi-Unite attacks, all of these systems barely even getting a mention in the sorry excuse for a tutorial that this game has.

As soon as I saw this video, I went back and played the demo again, and after a bit of hard work, I ended up getting a Gold ranking on it! It took me back to when I was learning how to play Marvel Vs Capcom 2 on the Dreamcast, just sitting in practice mode putting together combos with my favorite team ups. Except instead of Jill Valentine, Tron Bonne, and Spiderman, I was linking together Unite Hand, Sword, and Gun.

In fact, I think that comparison is pretty apt all around. Wonderful 101 controls like a fighting game, through and through, the only difference being that movement and attack are tied to two different analogue sticks (likely to accommodate 3D movement). Much like old fighting games, too, the player is expected to experiment and find things out on their own. However, since this isn't billed as a fighting game, no one expects to have to do this, and they end up just being frustrated by not having enough options.

So if anything is to blame, I would say the culprit of this big misunderstanding is the GamePad. Leading up to the launch of this game, it was advertised as using the GamePad as the main method of control. This was due, in part, to the fact that GamePad drawing is a lot more interesting visually in commercials and Directs than the movement of an analogue stick, especially given Wonderful 101's slick presentation. I'm sure Nintendo was also trying to make a case for the Wii U GamePad being integral to gameplay. Unfortunately, however, this means that the first thing people want to do when they play the game is use the touchscreen, which is about as intuitive as Bayonetta 2's touch screen mode (which is locked to easy mode, interestingly). The game then turns into the Bop-It from the Black Lagoon, requiring you to balance the Gamepad, push buttons, draw shapes, all with barely a glance at the GamePad.

"Fist it! ... Sword it! ... Gun it! ....DOOOOoooh, too slow!!"

The game was obviously designed with the analogue stick in mind (It was originally for Wii, so pointer controls might have been a possibility, too), and when you boil the controls down to their essence, the shapes end up just becoming fighting-game stick movements. The presentation of the game makes you over-think what you are actually doing. Players like Keza and I get overwhelmed by the thought of drawing different shapes and also managing button presses and also managing 100 troops, when the controls are really not that complicated. Just move the stick in a circle for Unite Hand. Do it more slowly if you want a bigger Hand. Same principles apply to other weapons.

The review is done, and over with, so there is no point in complaining about a number. But go ahead and try this game, especially if you are a fan of those old fighting games. Don't let a little marketing snafu make you miss out on a game like this. It's rare that something as unique and colorful as Wonderful 101 makes it to store shelves anymore, especially in the States, so you owe it to yourself to give it a shot.

As usual, I've been a bit busy. Semester Finals (that time of year again, I know), followed by 10 days vacation have postponed my supposed "once a week" schedule I've been trying to commit to. So this post is just to let you guys know whats sitting in my MyIGN rough drafts box, waiting to be polished when I get back on Monday. Think of it as a "Megabuster Direct".

First up, a blog I'm calling "R.I.P. Sony". I'm not going to say right now what I mean by that, so I'll leave it up to you guys to speculate. LET THE FLAME WARS BEGIN (No, I'm kidding, please play nice)!

Next, as soon as I get my hands on my PC Game pad from Amazon, I'll finish out my review for v0.9 of Super Smash Flash 2. While you guys wait for that, please enjoy these screenshots. I'll say it now, the screenshot tool in this game is pretty sweet. Then again, it wouldn't really be Smash Bros without out, now would it?

He does not.

Tell me I&#Array;m not the only one who sees this.

And finally, though I have no pics at the moment, I'm feeling a little nostalgic about Disney Channel of yesteryear. I'm not quite sure what my focus is going to be there yet, though I can tell you I won't be singing many praises for what Disney Channel has going on right now!

Wait, so this DIDN&#Array;T happen?

So I'll leave y'all there, I'm keeping this short and sweet. I've only got 5 more days in the warm and sunny Florida weather before I'm exiled to -15 degrees again, and I plan to take advantage of it. Lets just hope no one ruins it for me by stealing my Mama Peach.

.... That son of a Koopa ....

....COMMENT!!!

...or he's gonna come for YOUR Peach Mama!

UPDATE: Also, tell me what youse guyses think of the new header (courtesy of Ausman 101! As always, I'd love to hear from y'all.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was slightly disappointed with last week's Nintendo Direct. I mean, we have a new system out now, and the 3DS is just hitting it's stride! We all want games to play on them! The problem is, as this Nintendo Direct so clearly showed, Nintendo is perfectly happy to keep their upcoming games close to their chest. While we were waiting for them to blow us away with that rumored Yoshi Land game, or whatever Retro is working on at the moment, or at least a freaking Animal Crossing release date, Nintendo used the opportunity to remind us how awesome the games they already announced a year ago are gonna be. I guess we shouldn't be expecting so much from a Nintendo Direct, but still ... (/zombie voice "gaaaaaaaaaammeeees!...")

And while some of us resort to silly things like "hacking" or "waiting" to find out what the Big N is working on, with a little research, we can find out what may be coming up by what Nintendo hasn't said! After all, time is money, and time that a studio spends not working on something is money wasted. There are a lot of studios we haven't heard from in a while, and they have to be working on something. For example ....

BROWNIE BROWN

Brownie Brown is notorious for two things: 1) Their frustrating tendency to cancel all non-handheld games (usually original IPs), and 2) their even more frustrating tendency to leave their games unlocalized for American and European audiences. Still, they have put out some quality software in the past, though mostly through cooperative development.

Brownie Brown has become more of a supporting developer lately, having very few games to call their own on current systems. Currently, they are working with Level 5 on "Fantasy Life" for the 3DS, though we haven't heard much of anything on that game lately, possibly because of Level 5's more prominent Layton projects. Aside from that, their only other recent project has been Super Mario 3D Land with Nintendo EAD.

So what else has Brownie Brown been doing? Is Fantasy Life really absorbing all of their resources? Could they be working on something else for this upcoming year? It has been a while since they flew solo on a game of their own, and they have a history of developing good strategy RPG games like Magical Starsign and Heroes of Mana.

Also, Mother 3. *Drops the mic*

Mother freaking 3

*... picks the mic back up* In other words, if this silence means anything like Mother 4 is in the works, this E3 is going to the best E3. *drops the mic again* ...

Creatures Inc.

*picks the mic back up* Oh, Creatures Inc., how far you have fallen! One of their first projects (in a minor background capacity) was none other than Earthbound, for the Super Nintendo (their first being the original Mother). From there, they moved on to Mario's Picross (GB), as well as Mario Super Picross (a SNES version), both very good titles as well. They also created the software that went along with the GameBoy Camera, also very fun in its own right.

However, it seems as though Factor 5's departure as Nintendo's premiere Pokemon console developer saddled Creatures Inc. with the task in their place. While they were weaned off the SNES golden years with the long and arduous development of the cancelled "Earthbound 64", they proceeded to develop Pokemon spinoff after Pokemon spinoff, from some Japan-only Pokemon e-Reader cards to the Pokemon Ranger series, to the Pokepark franchise that began on the Wii.

While it may be nothing exciting, the silence of Creature's Inc probably signals yet another Pokemon spinoff coming our way in 2013, likely a Pokepark 3. They also worked on the Personal Trainer series, so there is a possibility of another one of those as well.

HAL Laboratories

Weird logo aside (only in Japan can a dog laying eggs be considered a viable logo), HAL Laboratory has to be one of Nintendo's premiere developers. Not only did they create Smash Bros. and some of the best Pokemon spinoffs (Pokemon Snap, anyone?), they've created a slew of awesome and creative Kirby titles in the past, like Mass Attack, Tilt & Tumble, and Canvas Curse.

HAL's most recent projects are pretty sparse. They made Kirby's Return to Dreamland, did the music for Epic Yarn, had a hand in Smash Bros Brawl, put together the Kirby Dream Collection, and made Face Raiders in their spare time. Now all of those projects are out in the wild, and aside from maybe attributing some Kirby related media to the next Smash Bros, they have announced no projects for the future.

It's safe to say that whatever HAL is working on now is probably Kirby related. Of course, with their current track record, that means absolutely nothing, since HAL has never restricted Kirby to one genre of gameplay. We've already had a couple of doses of traditional Kirby with Return to Dreamland and the Kirby Collection, so we are probably due for another game like Canvas Curse or Mass Attack, probably for the 3DS. After all, Kirby has yet to see a real debut on the new handheld, even 2 years in.

Nintendo EAD

I'm not even going to bother explaining who EAD is. They are responsible for a large chunk of Nintendo's first party games. Its hard to sum up their development history in a few words, since they are a HUGE branch of Nintendo development. Thankfully, they are divided into 7 subsections, so it is easier to seperate them out.

SDG1: Latest games - Mario Kart 7, Nintendogs + Cats

SDG2: Latest games - Animal Crossing: New Leaf, NintendoLand

SDG3: Latest games - Skyward Sword, Spirit Tracks

SDG4: Latest games - NSMBU, Pikmin 3

SDG5: Latest games - Star Fox 64 3D, Wii Fit U

TDG1: Latest games - Ocarina of Time 3D, Four Swords: Anniversary

TDG2: Latest games - Galaxy 2, 3D Land

We can already rule out Software Development Groups 2, 4, and 5 for any surprises. They all have known projects still in the works (or at the very least recently finished). We know that SDG3 is plugging away at the next Zelda for Wii U (and possibly 3DS as well, since they did Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks on DS). SDG1 has been quiet for a while though, and they are responsible for Mario Kart games. I'd bet they've been working on Mario Kart U/8 for a while now, at least since 7 was released.

The Tokyo Development Groups have more interesting stories to tell, however. TDG1, developer of the first Galaxy and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, has been quiet since working on Galaxy, only surfacing in the credits for the recent Legend of Zelda ports, mainly developed by Grezzo. No doubt, the next 3D Mario has been cooking for a while at TDG1, and it won't take long before we see more of it. Chances are, this 3D Mario will be a Holiday release.

TDG2 did Galaxy 2 (the Tokyo groups seem interchangeable) and 3D Land with Brownie Brown, and they, too, have been quiet since. They are relatively new as a group, so they have no history to speak of, their only other projects being New Play Control: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Flipnote Studio. There might be a new Flipnote in the works for 3DS, but aside from that, they are an absolute wild card.

Retro Studios

Ever since they revived Metroid from potential obscurity, Retro Studios has been lauded as one of Nintendo's best. We already know they are working on something, we just don't know what. According to Nintendo, it isn't Zelda or Mario, but they haven't ruled out another Metroid. Miyamoto has also teased a Wii U Metroid recently. However, Metroid isn't entirely in the hands of Retro, as Other M demonstrated (and no doubt they are probably a little tired with the franchise). They have said it is a project "everyone wants us to do", which is a little misleading, since no one has been able to make their mind up over what they want Retro to do. After seeing them revive 2 franchises with such skill, some want to see a new Star Fox, F-Zero, or Earthbound from them. Others want to see a new IP. Personally, I'm shooting for a 1080 sequel, but that's just me.

Nintendo Software Planning & Development Yep. Another uncreatively acronym'd Nintendo developer. Like EAD, this one also is divided into subsections, each responsible for it's own set of games.

SPD1: Latest games - Rhythm Heaven Fever, Other M, Kiki Trick

SPD2: Latest games - Endless Ocean 2, Xenoblade Chronicles

SPD3: Latest games - Pilotwings Resort, Fluidity

SPD4: Latest games - Hotel Dusk, Wii Party

SPD5: Latest games - Trace Memory, Photo Dojo

First of all, its important to note that almost all of SPD's titles are co-developed with other developers. They've worked with Retro, Ninja Theory, Monolith Soft, Intelligent Systems, and so many more devs like them, but they rarely develop full retail titles on their own (aside from Brain Training and Rhythm Heaven). They mostly act as ambassadors to 3rd and 2nd party developers, making sure these externally developed games stay true to Nintendo's standards. However, it is interesting to note that only SPD1 has any 2012 releases, the other 4 sections have been mysteriously quiet lately... I'm sensing a lot more 3rd party collaboration in the future! Remember, the latest entries in a lot of Nintendo franchises have been 3rd Party developers working with SPD.

Alpha Dream

Do you like Mario? Do you like RPGs? Do you like fun? Well Alpha Dream's got you covered. They've developed 3 Mario RPGs for the GameBoy Advance and DS, and every one of them has been awesome. They are a 2nd Party developer, but they don't seem to do much outside of Nintendo projects, and anything new from them is bound to brilliant. Very few developers have nailed the level of humor and fun that Alpha Dream has with the Mario & Luigi series. Whether its another game like Mario & Luigi or something else entirely, its bound to fill the Paper Mario shaped hole in my heart left by Sticker Star. We are due for a new game from them, too, seeing as its been a couple of years already since Bowser's Inside Story.

Good Feel Games

Good Feel is another 2nd Party developer that has proved their worth in recent years. They've really only developed two major titles, namely, WarioLand: Shake It and Kirby's Epic Yarn. But with these two amazing games Good Feel has created some beautiful and astounding 2D platformers. Remember that rumored Yoshi Land game? My money's on Good Feel as the developer. Contrary to popular opinion, though, I also get the feeling that this might be a 3DS title, since the "Land" titles are usually portable.

And those are all of the missing Nintendo Developers I can think of. I know I've left some pretty major developers out, but remember, this list was only ever meant to include developers we haven't heard from in a while. Some developers like Monolith Soft have already revealed their plans for the future, even if no title or genre has been chosen yet. Others, like Intelligent Systems and Next Level Games, have games actively in development that we are already looking forward to.

Of course, I still might have missed some, so feel free to mention in the comments if I have forgetten any standouts, or any other theories you might have!

Intelligent Systems has to be one of my all-time favorite developers. Between Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Pushmo, WarioWare, and Super (freakin') Metroid, they've kept me coming back to Nintendo consoles time and time again. In fact, I'd say Intelligent Systems is really the backbone of what makes Nintendo the company it is today. Everyone and their mother knows who Mario, Zelda, and even Kirby are, and those games are amazing, don't get me wrong! But they play it safe (for the most part), and they come once, maybe twice, a generation. If it weren't for Intelligent Systems, we'd constantly be twiddling our thumbs while we waited for the next major Nintendo game (and many still do that anyway). But any true gamer knows that Nintendo's real heart and soul lies in those lesser known titles, a great majority of which come from Intelligent Systems. While Mario and Zelda have stuck to the status quo, playing it straight, games like Advance Wars and WarioWare gave Nintendo that goofy (and very Japanese) core that really sets them apart from anyone else making games, then or now.

Paper Mario, as a franchise, holds a special place for me, so much so that I replay the first one on Virtual Console pretty much annually. I remember playing it on the N64 when I was just a lad, and spending hours just talking to everyone in Toad Town, and then doing it again with Goombario just to see what he thought of everybody. It's unique, it's creative, it's funny, and it breaks the status quo in so many ways. I thought Thousand Year Door was just as good, and even loved Super Paper Mario, in spite of it's flaws.

For some reason, Sticker Star feels like it was released before it was ready, or at the very least, like it was rushed out of the gate so it would be on shelves in time for Christmas. Decalburg, the game's first (and only) town, is a great example of this.

Here is Decalburg

And here are just a few citizens of Toad Town, in the original Paper Mario.

Notice anything different?

The characters in the original Paper Mario all had their own names, their own look, their own personalities. Some had pigtails, some had wrinkles, some had glasses, some had rockin' Hitler 'staches, but each one was different. And its inhabitants weren't only limited to Toads, either. You would see Buzzy Beetles, Paratroopas, Goombas, Cheep Cheeps and that weird duck thing (that sold you totally-not-steroids), all living in harmony within one town.

But then you have Sticker Star. The inhabitants of Decalburg are made up of 25 generic Toads, a blue one, a green one, a yellow one, and one with a crease in his head. Only one of them has anything resembling a name (The Captain). On top of that, most of your enemies (including bosses) don't speak, not even in text form, instead opting to utter pointless gibberish with the word "shiny" sprinkled into the mix. This means, you'll only ever have meaningful conversations with Toads and your partner Kersti, and in the end game. Even Bowser is inexplicably silent for most of the game.

That isn't to say Sticker Star's characters don't have personality. Every Toad has his own way of speaking, his own attitude, his favorite places to hang out, but you can't tell them apart until you talk to 'em (There is one Toad that literally robbed me of 200 coins behind a house, disappeared into the crowd of Toads, and now there is no way for me to tell him apart from the others). It feels like each Toad was meant to have his own look, name, and personality, but in the end, there wasn't time to flesh them out outside of their dialog.

This bastard...

That's the weird thing about this game. It's not that it is lacking story elements or characters or creativity. It just feels like there are segments where there was meant to be more, but something was cut. A cutscene will focus on an enemy for a few seconds, like he was supposed to say something, but then he just summons a few of his buddies, and you fight without a word. A character will approach you, make a noise, and then back off, like he was supposed to be saying something. You get to a boss, and his entire arena is baseball themed for some reason, and he is weak against a Baseball Bat sticker, but no one ever mentions why, or even seems to notice this change in theme in the first place.

Sticker Star has the framework for a great game. It has some hilarious moments (Kamek turning your stickers into flip flops was one thing, but then actually attacking him with flip flops was even better), and the combat and art style are excellent, in my opinion. The music especially is one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a while (It was nice to hear the Mario 64 Slide theme again). But for every brilliant moment, there is some inexplicable gap or missed opportunity that lets me down.

But why? Let's take a look at Intelligent System's current and recent projects.

Pushmo

Crashmo

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Game & Wario

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Five games for one developer within the same year. I'm getting the feeling that maybe Nintendo needs to lay off on them, just a little bit. Are they really hurting that bad for internal developers that they are putting this kind of workload on one team? And did they really need to get Sticker Star out this soon, when it was obviously in need of some more time in the oven? I guess there weren't any other major 3DS releases around this time, but sending this game out in this condition around Wii U time was kind of suicidal.

Whatever the reason, I'm just hoping that Paper Mario took one for the team this time, so that Fire Emblem wouldn't have the same fate.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before. but I have two Wiis. I don't want two of them, but at this point I have no choice. One of them, my white launch day system, has about 70 downloaded games on it, including pretty much the entire N64 VC library, quite a few NES and SNES classics, a few WiiWare games, and Metal Slug. However, after that fateful day in which my little sister forgot that the (corded) GameCube controller was, in fact, NOT a motion controller, it no longer plays discs. It's pretty much the Wii equivalent of paralysis. Because of this, I had to finally invest in a new Wii last year so I could play Skyward Sword. Unfortunately, not only can I not move my VC games over to the new system, but apparently the newer systems lack GameCube support.

I&#Array;m tempted to get another black one and make an Oreo Cookie.

In most cases, this works out pretty well. I just hook up one Wii for my classic games, and I hook up the other when I want to play a game on disc. But one game has become near impossible to play: Smash Bros Brawl.

4 years of awesome

Yes, I'm one of those purists that has a hard time enjoying a Smash Bros. game sans the GameCube controller, and if there is any way to play the next one with a GameCube controller, I'll be all over it. My dilemma is as follows: My old Wii, the one that supports all 4 of my GameCube controllers, cannot play discs. That makes it literally impossible to play the game on it. The other Wii can play the disc, but supports no GameCube controllers. This means, to enjoy a decent multiplayer match, I need 4 Classic Controllers (of which I only own one), and 4 WiiMotes (of which I own 2). At current Classic Controller and WiiMote prices, I would need to spend 140$ in controllers. And even then, the classic doesn't compare to the GameCube control options, and most of my friends get sick of dealing with flimsy Classic Controller anyway. Of course, we can still make it work if one of us brings their working launch day system, I bring my copy of the game, and we all scrounge up the proper controllers amongst the 4 of us. But we shouldn't have to do that! I understand that we are being pretty high-maintenance here, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.

So, because of these unfortunate events, I've had to resort to:

Awesome since 1999 ... Thank Hylia for Virtual Console

The Original Smash Bros.. The brawl that started them all.... And believe it or not, it still holds up! I was surprised by this, seeing as the series has gone through so many changes in 12 years. And to be honest, there are still some nagging quirks with the game in retrospect that were originally clouded by nostalgia and, well, just not knowing any better!

First of all, I MISS MY SIDE-B ATTACKS! Fox McCloud isn't the same without the Fox Phantom, and I never thought I'd miss PK Frost. There are so many times when I try to recover with the phantom Fox Phantom and I fall to my death. Not having air dodge is a killer, too. I never realized how often I relied on that air dodge to avoid being juggled by a vicious Kirby or Fox player. The item selection is quite a bit smaller, too. In Brawl, you can go a few matches without ever seeing a hammer. In this game, you can see five hammers in five minutes, even if a couple of 'em fall off the stage. I feel like the Pokemon selection is kind of small, too, probably less than 15. I miss the photo mode, too. I forgot that the original Smash only let you pan around your character and nothing more. It's a bit of a throwback to have to take an actual shot of my screen for a screenshot!

That is the squarest Morph Ball of I&#Array;ve ever seen ...

Lastly, I forgot just how awesome Ness was in the first game. Scratch that, I actually never realised how awesome he was in the first place. When I started playing Smash Bros., I was probably 8 years old, and Ness was a near impossibility to comprehend. Most other characters had moves that were easy to understand. When a move was used, you just had to make sure that A) you were facing the enemy and that B) you or some projectile of yours touched the enemy. Ness, however, was a different story. As soon as I realized PSI Magnet didn't hurt anyone and didn't block anything, I wrote it off. I also deemd PK Thunder a waste of time because it took to long to use. I had no idea how to do Smash attacks on purpose, so I had no idea how to make the bat and the yo-yo happen. And I couldn't figure out how to do his third jump. I hit myself with PK Thunder once, but seeing my character get launched into an abyss by my own projectile and (possibly) doing damage to my own character pretty much scared me away from using this technique. I assumed hitting myself with PK Thunder was a bad thing (since struck by lightning usually equals "bad thing"). And when I did manage to get the yo-yo working, it normally backfired for me when the yo yo traveled behind me first, leaving an opening for whoever I was fighting.

It probably didn't help that I had no idea who Ness was. In fact, I used to think Ness was a Pokemon Trainer. After all, he was a kid wearing a red hat, that looks pretty Pokemon Trainer-ish to anybody. I though PK stood for "Pokemon" and that he was simply using Pikachu's Thunderbolt and such for his moves, like, with Pokemon hidden in his pockets or something (They ARE pocket monsters, after all). Heck, even his fighter symbol looks like a Pokeball someone dropped in the mud. As for the yo-yo and the bat, I just assumed those were there because, well, what kid doesn't have that stuff?

Was anyone else confused by Ness like I was? Or were you already Nintendo know-it-alls by the time you played Smash Bros.? Also, am I the only one who is ticked by the lack of GameCube support in current Wii consoles?

By the way, I have a very sad and lonely blog that remains uncommented on from last week. After the whopping 35 comments (okay, half of them were mine) I got on my Rolling Western bit, this is kind of ... depressing. And every minute I feel depressed, a Clefairy loses its wings. SO HURRY! LISTEN! HEY! WATCH OUT!